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Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 165, NO. 25 | Tuesday September 30, 2008
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
5 · Lifestyle
8 · Classifieds
9 · Crossword
12 · Sports
Wasted Talent: Spike Lee’s
‘Miracle at St. Anna’ fails to
deliver. PAGE 5
Middle Man: Injury to Rey
Maualuga could force USC to adjust
at linebacker. PAGE 12
By Ariel edwards-levy
Daily Trojan
The U.S. House of
Representatives dealt Wall Street
a devastating blow Monday as it
rejected a proposed $700 billion fi-nancial
services bailout and sent
the Dow Jones Industrial aver-age
into a free fall that would ulti-mately
result in a loss of 777 points
by day’s end — the most dramatic
single-day drop in U.S. history.
Representatives voted 228 to
205 against the bailout plan, which
was endorsed by President George
W. Bush and congressional leaders
from both parties.
Democrats voted in favor of the
bill by a margin of 140 to 95, but
the House Republicans sealed the
bailout’s fate by voting against it
133 to 93.
If it passed, the bill would
have allowed the Secretary of the
Treasury to buy debts from trou-bled
financial companies.
Bush was “very disappoint-ed”
about the House’s decision, a
White House spokesman said at a
press conference.
Some Republicans said they vot-ed
against the bill because House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
gave a speech directly prior to the
vote that they felt was too parti-san.
Members from both parties
said they were reacting to their
constituents’ overwhelming dis-approval
of the measure.
One House Democrat who vot-ed
against the bill was Diane
Watson, who represents the 33rd
Congressional District, the area
surrounding USC.
“I am siding with my
constituents,” she said. Watson
called the bailout a non-starter
and noted that she had received
more than 1,000 messages about
the measure with only two in sup-port.
She claimed the bill did not take
measures to protect homeowners
who had fallen victim to the sub-prime
mortgage loan crisis.
“The subprime loaners preyed
on the elderly, minorities and the
poor,” she said. “We’ve had people
calling us in tears because they’re
losing their homes.”
Watson said she thought the bill
should be restructured to provide
more congressional oversight.
“I don’t think the sky is falling,
but Wall Street might be falling,”
she said. “But they’ll find some way
to correct.”
For the time being, the econom-ic
downturn will make it harder
for companies to lend money, said
Yong Kim, an assistant professor
of economics at USC.
“Students may not be able to get
loans as easily,” he said.
He also said there was a risk that
the country might fall further into
recession, citing the plummeting
Dow Jones Industrial Average.
“The fear is that it’s going to af-fect
how easily people can find jobs
and how their income is going to
be affected,” he said.
Ayse Imrohoroglu, a professor
of finance and business economics
at the Marshall School of Business,
said that such a recession would
affect seniors looking for jobs.
She also said that students
would likely remember this crisis
years from now. “It’s a pretty his-torical
event that’s happening, so
students should pay attention to
it,” she said.
Bailout rejected; markets plunge
Worst single-day drop for Dow
as House votes against bill in
sharp rebuke to President.
By Jennifer smith
Daily Trojan
News of the fatal stabbing that
left USC student Bryan Richard
Frost dead has sparked concern
over the effectiveness of USC’s
emergency notification system,
TrojansAlert.
The system came under
scrutiny when some students
who were signed up for the ser-vice
said they did not receive text
messages notifying them of the
incident.
These new technical problems
coincide with a September 2008
study by the Georgia Institute of
Technology that found text-mes-sage
alert systems are ineffective
in large-scale emergency situa-tions
because cellular networks
cannot handle high traffic vol-umes.
The study was published short-ly
after President George W. Bush
signed into law a new measure re-quiring
colleges to immediately
notify their students of emergen-cies
around campus.
Department of Public Safety
Capt. David Carlisle said the
TrojansAlert system was success-ful
in handling the emergency
traffic loads on Sept. 18, the day
of the stabbing.
“The text message was sent
at approximately 5:50 a.m. and
within a matter of two to three
Text alert
system is
questioned
DPS will work with phone
carriers to ensure TrojansAlerts
are not blocked as spam.
| see Alert, page 10 |
By Kelly Moffit
Daily Trojan
As colleges across the country prepare to provide
additional benefits to veterans under the new federal
GI bill, veterans, including some USC students, are
awaiting its implementation.
The “ Post-9/11 GI Bill Veterans Educational
Assistance Act” was signed into law in June, but will
not be take effect until August 2009. The bill, which
was passed as part of a larger appropriations pack-age,
compliments, but does not replace, the existing
GI bill by giving additional benefits to people who
have served since 9/11.
Some veterans said the new bill would give them
better access to educational stipends given out by
the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans pay-ing
for college.
Stipends will come as a direct deposit that reflects
the amount of time veterans have spent in service,
said Quence Smith, veterans affairs and grading co-ordinator
for the USC Office of Veteran Affairs.
“The changes to the new GI bill will absolutely
New GI bill increases
benefits for students
serving in military
New bill offers more college tuition benefits for
soldiers who have served since Sept. 11, 2001.
| see BIL, page 3 |
By dan doperalski
Daily Trojan
More than 40 workers at the USC-owned
Radisson Hotel lost their jobs
Monday when the university took over
hospitality operations at the hotel and
began the transition to an entirely
USC-hired staff.
Several workers — some of whom
worked at the hotel for more than 20
years, most recently under Prism Hotels
and Resorts — said they were angry and
frustrated by the decision, and that los-ing
their jobs would mean serious hard-ship.
Employees said they were informed
by hotel management on Sept. 11 that
they would be replaced with USC’s staff,
giving them two weeks to find work be-fore
the change took effect.
“At least give us a little time, one or
two months to start looking for some-thing
else. We understand it’s busi-ness,
but they can do it in another way,”
said Delia Medina, a supervisor at the
Radisson’s Expo Café who has worked
Radisson staffers upset after wave of job cuts
Forty employees of the Radisson
Hotel have lost jobs; USC to
replace jobs with its own staffers.
| see cuts, page 10 |
Young Kim | Daily Trojan
Cut out · Some employees at the USC-owned Radisson hotel said they were
frustrated about losing their jobs now that USC has taken over hospitality services.
How California
Members voted:
How the
markets reacted:
Dow Jones: -777.68 (-6.98%)
NASDAQ: -199.61 (-9.14%)
S.&P. 500: -106.85 (-8.81%)
National “No” votes:
228
(95, 133)
National “Yes” votes:
205
(140, 65)
Republicans who voted yes: 10
Democrats who voted no: 15
Democrats who voted yes: 19
Republicans who voted no: 9
Leon Russo | Daily Trojan

Student Newspaper of the University of Southern California Since 1912 | www.dailytrojan.com | VOL. 165, NO. 25 | Tuesday September 30, 2008
InDEX
2 · News Digest
4 · Opinion
5 · Lifestyle
8 · Classifieds
9 · Crossword
12 · Sports
Wasted Talent: Spike Lee’s
‘Miracle at St. Anna’ fails to
deliver. PAGE 5
Middle Man: Injury to Rey
Maualuga could force USC to adjust
at linebacker. PAGE 12
By Ariel edwards-levy
Daily Trojan
The U.S. House of
Representatives dealt Wall Street
a devastating blow Monday as it
rejected a proposed $700 billion fi-nancial
services bailout and sent
the Dow Jones Industrial aver-age
into a free fall that would ulti-mately
result in a loss of 777 points
by day’s end — the most dramatic
single-day drop in U.S. history.
Representatives voted 228 to
205 against the bailout plan, which
was endorsed by President George
W. Bush and congressional leaders
from both parties.
Democrats voted in favor of the
bill by a margin of 140 to 95, but
the House Republicans sealed the
bailout’s fate by voting against it
133 to 93.
If it passed, the bill would
have allowed the Secretary of the
Treasury to buy debts from trou-bled
financial companies.
Bush was “very disappoint-ed”
about the House’s decision, a
White House spokesman said at a
press conference.
Some Republicans said they vot-ed
against the bill because House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
gave a speech directly prior to the
vote that they felt was too parti-san.
Members from both parties
said they were reacting to their
constituents’ overwhelming dis-approval
of the measure.
One House Democrat who vot-ed
against the bill was Diane
Watson, who represents the 33rd
Congressional District, the area
surrounding USC.
“I am siding with my
constituents,” she said. Watson
called the bailout a non-starter
and noted that she had received
more than 1,000 messages about
the measure with only two in sup-port.
She claimed the bill did not take
measures to protect homeowners
who had fallen victim to the sub-prime
mortgage loan crisis.
“The subprime loaners preyed
on the elderly, minorities and the
poor,” she said. “We’ve had people
calling us in tears because they’re
losing their homes.”
Watson said she thought the bill
should be restructured to provide
more congressional oversight.
“I don’t think the sky is falling,
but Wall Street might be falling,”
she said. “But they’ll find some way
to correct.”
For the time being, the econom-ic
downturn will make it harder
for companies to lend money, said
Yong Kim, an assistant professor
of economics at USC.
“Students may not be able to get
loans as easily,” he said.
He also said there was a risk that
the country might fall further into
recession, citing the plummeting
Dow Jones Industrial Average.
“The fear is that it’s going to af-fect
how easily people can find jobs
and how their income is going to
be affected,” he said.
Ayse Imrohoroglu, a professor
of finance and business economics
at the Marshall School of Business,
said that such a recession would
affect seniors looking for jobs.
She also said that students
would likely remember this crisis
years from now. “It’s a pretty his-torical
event that’s happening, so
students should pay attention to
it,” she said.
Bailout rejected; markets plunge
Worst single-day drop for Dow
as House votes against bill in
sharp rebuke to President.
By Jennifer smith
Daily Trojan
News of the fatal stabbing that
left USC student Bryan Richard
Frost dead has sparked concern
over the effectiveness of USC’s
emergency notification system,
TrojansAlert.
The system came under
scrutiny when some students
who were signed up for the ser-vice
said they did not receive text
messages notifying them of the
incident.
These new technical problems
coincide with a September 2008
study by the Georgia Institute of
Technology that found text-mes-sage
alert systems are ineffective
in large-scale emergency situa-tions
because cellular networks
cannot handle high traffic vol-umes.
The study was published short-ly
after President George W. Bush
signed into law a new measure re-quiring
colleges to immediately
notify their students of emergen-cies
around campus.
Department of Public Safety
Capt. David Carlisle said the
TrojansAlert system was success-ful
in handling the emergency
traffic loads on Sept. 18, the day
of the stabbing.
“The text message was sent
at approximately 5:50 a.m. and
within a matter of two to three
Text alert
system is
questioned
DPS will work with phone
carriers to ensure TrojansAlerts
are not blocked as spam.
| see Alert, page 10 |
By Kelly Moffit
Daily Trojan
As colleges across the country prepare to provide
additional benefits to veterans under the new federal
GI bill, veterans, including some USC students, are
awaiting its implementation.
The “ Post-9/11 GI Bill Veterans Educational
Assistance Act” was signed into law in June, but will
not be take effect until August 2009. The bill, which
was passed as part of a larger appropriations pack-age,
compliments, but does not replace, the existing
GI bill by giving additional benefits to people who
have served since 9/11.
Some veterans said the new bill would give them
better access to educational stipends given out by
the Department of Veterans Affairs to veterans pay-ing
for college.
Stipends will come as a direct deposit that reflects
the amount of time veterans have spent in service,
said Quence Smith, veterans affairs and grading co-ordinator
for the USC Office of Veteran Affairs.
“The changes to the new GI bill will absolutely
New GI bill increases
benefits for students
serving in military
New bill offers more college tuition benefits for
soldiers who have served since Sept. 11, 2001.
| see BIL, page 3 |
By dan doperalski
Daily Trojan
More than 40 workers at the USC-owned
Radisson Hotel lost their jobs
Monday when the university took over
hospitality operations at the hotel and
began the transition to an entirely
USC-hired staff.
Several workers — some of whom
worked at the hotel for more than 20
years, most recently under Prism Hotels
and Resorts — said they were angry and
frustrated by the decision, and that los-ing
their jobs would mean serious hard-ship.
Employees said they were informed
by hotel management on Sept. 11 that
they would be replaced with USC’s staff,
giving them two weeks to find work be-fore
the change took effect.
“At least give us a little time, one or
two months to start looking for some-thing
else. We understand it’s busi-ness,
but they can do it in another way,”
said Delia Medina, a supervisor at the
Radisson’s Expo Café who has worked
Radisson staffers upset after wave of job cuts
Forty employees of the Radisson
Hotel have lost jobs; USC to
replace jobs with its own staffers.
| see cuts, page 10 |
Young Kim | Daily Trojan
Cut out · Some employees at the USC-owned Radisson hotel said they were
frustrated about losing their jobs now that USC has taken over hospitality services.
How California
Members voted:
How the
markets reacted:
Dow Jones: -777.68 (-6.98%)
NASDAQ: -199.61 (-9.14%)
S.&P. 500: -106.85 (-8.81%)
National “No” votes:
228
(95, 133)
National “Yes” votes:
205
(140, 65)
Republicans who voted yes: 10
Democrats who voted no: 15
Democrats who voted yes: 19
Republicans who voted no: 9
Leon Russo | Daily Trojan